What is your label?

So I happened to start a discussion with a childfree group online today and many believe I don’t have the right to have that label which is fine in the end. No labels have ever really fit me anyway so I’m not going to make a big deal about it.

In the long run the discussion was about what makes someone a parent? What is the difference between a stepmom who sees the child every other week and a nanny who takes care of the kids daily? What about teachers who help raise other peoples kids in one way or another?

I don’t want to start a heated debate here but I was just thinking about labels and why they might be so important to people? As someone said on there with labels there is no One Size Fits All.

3 Thoughts on “What is your label?”

I remember similar kinds of debates on communities I’m part of. Basically, “childfree” for me would mean “without any child of your own”; if you have children, have adopted children, have had children (even if having put them for adoption right after birth), you’re either a parent or childless (like people who want children later, but want them all the same), not childfree. However, I agree that sometimes, the line isn’t so easy to draw. If a woman has been pregnant but has aborted, is she childfree or childless, since the fetus never saw the light of day? Etc. One could go to lengths of serious nitpicking here. I wouldn’t put the teachers in the parents category, though; for me, the teacher is supposed to teach knowledge, not raise the kids the way a parent would.

Of course, like in every kind of debate on any matter, there are people who can discuss it nicely, and people who behave like asses, so indeed, there’s a point after which labels just shouldn’t be important anymore.

I don’t think anyone else can tell you ‘who you are’. And, even you, yourself, can’t get all bogged down in giving yourself a label either. The only label that really fits everyone, all of the time, is ‘Me’. :hug:

Kery – very good points. In the long run it’s more though about living your life how you want to…I think it’s tough for any “labels” to fit anyone forever or perfectly.

Maureen – Yes, that is true. My only label anymore is me although many people try to label me from time to time. I have no interest in labels as I mentioned but I find it interesting how important labels seem to be to some people.